"There is no scorn more profound, or on the whole more justifiable, than that of the men who make for the men who explain. Exposition, criticism, appreciation, is work for second-rate minds." G.H. Hardy, A Mathematician's Apology (1941)

About

One day after much fretting Samuel Hansen emailed Peter Rowlett to ask him a simple question, “Do you want to come be interviewed on my podcast Strongly Connected Components?” Peter, a podcast interviewer himself, had his answer ready, which to Samuel’s joy was yes. This was the beginning of what has turned into one of the least important, but amazingly productive mathematical media collaborations in history.

Not too long after their interview showed up on the Strongly Connected Components feed Peter was the one to email Samuel with a question, “Do you want to start a current mathematical events podcast?” Samuel being one who is completely unable to turn down any sort of offer that could help him achieve his, self-admittedly insane, quest to become a famous mathematical proselytizer had no choice but to answer Peter in the affirmative. Thus was Math/Maths Podcast: 5136 Miles of Mathematics born.

Now that they have over 60 episodes in the can, including two recorded live in front of surprisingly enthusiastic crowds, and have co-presented a series of mathematical history internet videos, and traversed around England giving talks on subjects they are just not quite qualified to talk about, Peter and Samuel came to the realization that it just is not enough. Since they already have the audio world wrapped around their fingers, and video is too much of an outlay for the cheapskates the only other outlet for them is writing. After not much thought they decided to form Second-Rate Minds.

Second-Rate Minds is a blog where on an alternating schedule Peter or Samuel will write a short form post about some mathematical topic and the other will edit. While Peter and Samuel both agreed to this project by saying that they needed to get better at both their writing and editing skills Peter actually decided to go forward because he knows that due to his greater experience in the realm of mathematical writing, and his recently published Nature article, this is finally his chance to put Samuel in his place and Samuel just feels that Second-Rate Minds is another chance to extend his nascent, imagined really, celebrity.

Even though their reasons are not the noblest, they really do hope that you enjoy the posts that you find here and that you might, just maybe, learn something cool. Just please remember that all of the writing found on this site is truly the work of Second-Rate Minds.